I have a confession to make: I’d rather write than read. I’m often embarrassed when people ask me what books I’ve read recently or how many, because I often give up on books or struggle to pick a new one. Don’t get me wrong—I love reading and it did a great deal to shape the person I’ve become. But I’m very picky about which authors I trust in my brain and imagination. As hypocritical as it is, I don’t like to feel vulnerable, and reading is vulnerability. You’re letting someone else drive, and sometimes they don’t take you where you want to go. Have you ever driven with someone who…

The Perfect Metaphor I recently remembered a story my mom likes to tell from when I was little. We were with family at a hotel pool, and I was the youngest of the group of cousins there. The others, including my older sister, were big enough and good enough swimmers to go in the deep end, and they spent most of their time there. I was…an okay swimmer. My parents had insisted I take swim lessons. “Because so much of the earth is covered with water,” I remember my mom explaining, “you don’t want it to be a true emergency for you to just fall in.” But my desire to…